Saturday, January 27, 2007

Not much new

I don’t seem to have any exciting adventures to share of late. I guess that means we are getting more settled in and able to fit in with everything. It has been fun though recently with the arrival of the ‘new boys’. We get to see everything through their eyes, and appreciate again all that we tend to take for granted. One of them has commented on how relieved he has been, since he was very apprehensive of all the dangers he had anticipated, going to live in the ‘jungle’, like expected ferocious wild animals to be lurking behind every tree. Instead, he has found himself totally taken with how wonderful the ministry is here, both as far as the people, and the area.

This morning, the Joneses joined us in the ministry for the first time. It’s wonderful to see their progress. Pamila worked with Christina, and towards the end of the morning, she commented on how she didn’t think it was possible to experience so many emotions so strongly and in such quick succession. She mentioned, fear, excitement, and happiness . She really got into it, to the point of seeing a woman walking by while Christina was talking at a door, and saying, “You can talk to her, (meaning the woman at the door) and I will go talk to her (the one passing by).”

Terri had a nice call out in service this morning. She met a woman and was sharing a scripture from the bible with her and the woman started crying, which made Terri start crying as well. She asked the woman why it had made her start crying, and the woman said because she knew she wasn’t doing what she knew she should. Terri assured her that the fact she felt so badly showed that she really had a good heart, and that if she tried, she was sure the woman could do what was right. Terri asked her if she would like her to come regularly to help her learn what the bible said, and she said she would like that. So hopefully it will continue.

Ellis has asked to have a couple of the brothers sit with him Tuesday after the bookstudy in Kumaka, as he too wants to join us in the ministry. I think he as well as the Joneses are looking to the upcoming SAD in May as hopefully on opportunity for baptism.

Here’s just something to keep in mind. I’m posting our experiences rather than sending them to everyone as an email. But of course, common etiquette is that if you receive an email, you send one in return. So every time you log on to read of our goings on, technically, you owe us an email. On that note, I have to say that we do appreciate getting emails from everyone, as it helps us to feel connected to everyone back in the states. But we also realize that all of you are having to race with the rats, so it may be hard to find the time to write us.

But know that we are well and are thinking of all of you shoveling the snow.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

It could be worse...

What’s worse than being on the water in a motorboat in a downpour? Being on the water in a paddleboat in a downpour. Last week Terri, Alex, Compton, and I set out to preach in a small village nearby that can only be reached by water, and there is a bridge over it that is so low, a boat with a motor won’t fit and shortly after we set out it started to pour. So what’s worse than being in a paddleboat in a downpour? Being in a paddleboat in a downpour and having to be paddling against the current. Tide was going out, and we were trying to paddle up the creek, so it made the going quite difficult. What’s worse than padding in the rain against the current? It’s having to paddle in the rain against the current with a princess. Once it started raining, Terri put down her paddle so she could hold her umbrella. So now instead of four of us paddling, there were only three. What’s worse than being in a paddleboat in a downpour with a princess? It’s having to sit next to the princess. I felt so bad, Compton was sitting next to Terri, paddling away, and all the rain was running off her umbrella and pouring onto him, and he didn’t say a word. We finally reached the village about the time the rain stopped, and by the time we had finished, we had dried out. As a final insult, the tide had turned while we were preaching, so we had to paddle back against the current as well.

A couple days later, Joe took me on one of the dirt bikes out to territory on the other side of Wauna. We were going down all these little dirt tracks to some of the calls he had out there. It will be a real challenge to try and find my way back to them.

Monday Joe, Christina, and I went back on the river. Joe said it was going to be a short day, but he wanted to complete the stretch of the river we had been working on recently. Once again, I was driving the boat. Things went pretty well until later in the day. By then, the tide had changed and it was running out. We had been told there was one more house left on the river, and we had already passed it without seeing it, so we were working our way back. We came upon a small side creek and started following it. We had gone quite a ways up it and then it forked, so we just guessed which one and continued up it. The creek kept getting narrower and narrower, finally we decided we must have chosen the wrong fork, so we found a place where we could spin the boat around and headed down. Now we were going with the current, so it moved along fairly fast. But in order to have any control of the boat, you needed to be moving forward through the water, so now it seemed like you were flying down this narrow windy creek dodging trees, branches, and hanging vines. I said I felt like I was on one of those log flume rides at an amusement park. When we got back to the fork in the creek, we then turned and went up the other, only to repeat the return process again.

Once we returned to the river, we passed a small canal going off the river, and as we sat there looking at it, trying to decide if that might be where the house was, a man appeared at the other end. We turned and headed in, but by the water had gotten quite low, so we weren’t able to get the boat in very far. We shut the motor off and asked the man if the bank along the canal was walkable. He said it was very soft, so Joe asked if he had a small canoe there. He said he did, so Joe asked if he’d come out to us. He disappeared around a corner, and he reappeared with this small dugout canoe, which he proceeded to give a push to so it came to the boat. Now these boats are known for being very unstable, basically you are balancing on a log while trying to paddle. But Joe, being the trooper he is, climbed in to paddle over to the man, I don’t know if he had even taken a stroke before he tipped too far one way and the canoe was completely swamped and he was quite wet. I wished I had taken a video of it. At this point, Joe was deciding that if the man wouldn’t put forth the effort to walk to us, it wasn’t worth the bother. I think the man must has realized what was about to happen, because he walked right out to us. Turned out he couldn’t read, but said that some times someone came to visit him who could, so he asked for something so they could read it to him when they came..

Yesterday Terri and I moved all our things into the main house because we are expecting the arrival of four more workers today. William and his new wife Jennifer are returning, so he will be back in his house and two single brothers, one from Vermont, and one from Oregon are also coming. They will be living in a house they will be renting nearby. The added male help will be welcome for the meeting.

Now that I am living in the main house where I have access to the internet full-time, I will soon try posting a few pictures as well, but not today. I had recently checked the ten day forecast for WNY and saw that it was going to be below freezing all the 10 days, and nine of the ten called for snow. So, think of us sweating in the heat and sun, and we will think of you freezing in the snow and cold.

Friday, January 19, 2007

A few thoughts

So far, I’ve only been writing to share various events as we have experienced them. I thought I’d take a little time to share some of our early overall impressions, seeing as we were here three years ago.

The Kingdom Hall itself has changed since we were here. It has again been enlarged, plus some additional windows were installed at the one end, which certainly helps with airflow. A nice literature counter and library area has been added. In addition, they now have a sound system installed which is very helpful, not only due to the increase in size, but also since many of the local friends speak very softly when they comment. As more of the local friends continue to grow in their knowledge and experience, the meetings have also taken on a more meaningful feel. I have been very impressed with some of the comments I’ve heard at the various meting. A comment given at the Watchtower study which includes a cited scripture, with the main part of the scripture quoted, and an application of the scripture given.

The preaching work has also changed. When we were here three years ago, many were hearing the bible taught for the first time, and they always took time and expressed appreciation for our coming. But now there are around 25 regularly sharing in the preaching work, and some of the nearby territories are being covered about once a month, so most have heard from witnesses several times. Studies are harder to start. But the people here still show real respect for the bible, which is so refreshing.

Brother Baxter (the first local brother to be baptized here) is auxiliary pioneering this month for the first time, so it has been nice having him out with us almost every day. It’s nice to be able to go to a door with him and hear how a local presents the good news to another local. Sometimes I have a little trouble understanding what they are saying between themselves, but I usually can follow.

Since we were here, the yard all the way around the Kingdom Hall has been fenced off, so there are no more marauding herds of goats or cows passing through and eating off whatever catches their fancy. The banana trees that I had planted when I was here, only to see them eaten off twice, are finally taking off. One has some fruit on it that I expect to get ripe while we are here. One of the coconut trees that I planted is now taller than I am. I may try to get my hands on some citrus trees to plant while I am here this time. I am especially fond of what the locals call donsi (sp?). I think they are like what we know as clementines. I was disappointed when I couldn’t find them in Port Kaituma when we were there, but this is now season, and they are quite plentiful. Hopefully the price may come down. I think I remember them as 10 for $100, but now they are 5 for $100 (fifty cents). All-in-all, we are glad to be back here and looking forward to being able to assist the young congregation to continue to grow and make spiritual progress, to Jehovah’s glory.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

On the river II

Monday, Terri and Joe and I set out to preach once again on the river. Between it being Terri’s first experience at river work, and the fact that I was going to drive the boat all day for the first time, it was bound to be an eventful day.

When preaching along the river, you are driving as fast as you can along the river and then you see a small creek or canal going off the river, so you slow down and double back to take a second look to try and figure out if there is anything up it. Sometimes you are able to see a hut at the end of it, or you look to see if the brush has been trimmed along it, or you just decide to go check it out. Then you have to drive into this narrow opening and if the tide is running in or out on the river, you have this cross current to try and compensate for. The creeks and canals are not much wider than the boat, and if the tide is not high, they are often too shallow for having the motor down, so you have to paddle in and out. All rather stressful on a rookie driver.

When we were first getting started, we were a bit ahead of the tide, and we had to walk a good bid along the banks of the canals and creeks to get to the houses, but as the day progressed we were able to drive up to most of them.

At one house (that’s using the term rather loosely), Joe and I met a man and his wife. The man couldn’t read but the wife was able to somewhat. I asked if they had a bible and they said they didn’t. I shared a few things with them from the bible and gave them the brochure, “You Can Be God’s Friend”. I had the wife read a little from the first lesson to let them see how to use it, and so I could commend her on her reading. When we got to the first scriptural citation, I mentioned it was too bad they didn’t have a bible because the bible was the true authority. Joe asked them if perhaps they had an old bible, and they said they did. We encouraged them to get it, so they could see how to use the bible along with the brochure. Imagine our surprise when the woman came back carrying a black covered New World Translation! It turned out he had gotten it from his father who had lived at Matthews Ridge, where there used to be a congregation.

Towards the end of the day, Terri and I went to a hut where we were met by a woman who came out to greet us. She shook our hands and then she gave each of us a kiss. It was very unusual, since the people here are not apt to be very affectionate. There was a large extended family living there and none of them could read. They said they had a girl who was at school who could read a little, so we left some material for her to read to the whole family. Before we left, they had one of the men climb a coconut tee to chop down some water coconuts for us. They are the immature coconuts which are filled with a lot of ‘water’ as opposed to the smaller amount of milk in a ripe one. They also picked a bunch of fresh limes to send with us.

Now for the less pleasant stuff! At about 2:30 it started to rain. Now all the small poles that they lay out as a walkway to get across the mud were wet and very slippery. Also when you would be driving in the boat, you would just get soaked. Between the soaked and the wind from the driving, I was shivering very hard. Once we started the hour and a half ride back, it started to really pour, so I was soaked to the skin.

We arrived back at Kumaka just as it was getting dark. At this point Joe was driving and he was going to pull up by a dock so we could unload everything from the boat. He told me to go ahead on the bow to help guide the boat in. I forgot one of the first rules of boating; You never reach out to grab hold of something, rather you wait for it to come to you!! As I reached for the side of the boathouse, the boat went the other way, or because I reached for the wall the boat went the other way. Which ever, the boat went the other way, and I went head first into the water. The good news was I didn’t get wet, since I was already soaked. After I had climbed up onto the dock, both Terri and Joe started laughing uncontrollably.

After we had finally gotten home and I had showered (with no warm water) and gotten into dry clothes, I mentioned to Terri how warm it felt out as we were walking up to the main house for dinner. All in all, just another day in Guyana.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

On the river

Friday I went river preaching with Joe and Christina. We got an early start because we were going to be going quite a ways up the river and we wanted to be there when the tide was coming in. If you time it right, you can be reaching the houses when the tide is up, then you can drive the boat right up to the boat landings rather than have to wade in through the mud.

We were preaching in an area that had never been worked by any from Mabaruma, however there is a local sister who lives in Georgetown that has relatives living on the river here, and she has come out to visit from time to time, so when we asked people if they knew of Jehovah’s Witnesses, some said yes, they had spoken to Sister Vira.

At one point, we were way back up this creek, and as we approached a house, Christina said, “That looks like Nadine”. She had gone to the hall regularly in the past, but had then gone to live on the river. I’m not sure who was more surprised, Joe and Christina, or Nadine.

We came upon a small group of houses at what is known as The Island. All the adults (about 20) gathered together at one house so Joe and Christina were able to speak with them all. Preaching on the rivers like that is a mixed blessing, since it would be very hard to offer a bible study, but you realize this may be the first time they have had a chance to hear the truth of what the bible teaches.

Since we were so far up the creek we were working in, Joe wanted to finish it so we wouldn’t have to come all the way back the next time. We drove back in the deepening twilight and reached back just about full dark. I drove the boat on the way home. We covered about 40 miles of travel, but worked only about 1/3 of that. The rest was getting there and back. Monday Joe and Terri and I are planning on going again to finish working that section of the river.

Joe and Christina and Chelsea left to go to Port Kaituma this morning. They are planning on trying to find a small village that Joe has heard about along the way, and then continue on to Port Kaituma where Joe will give the talk tomorrow. So I will be giving the talk here again, and then I will let Alex do part of the Watchtower, and then I will finish it. Tomorrow night, we are having most of the congregation come by for a going away party for Loroli, who is leaving Monday.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Terri learns to drive

Since we got there, Terri has been teasing me to teach her to drive the dirt bikes, so this afternoon I took her up to the airstip to start to teach her. I chose the airstrip for a number of reasons, it's flat, wide, and there is no traffic. She had the expected mishaps, like popping it into gear and forgetting to squeeze the clutch, so it would lurch and stall. Or letting the clutch out too fast and stalling. But she started to get the hang of it. Then I had her doing circles and figure eights. I finally sent her out on the road and I started walking home. She went a ways and the turned and came back. She found it much more difficult turning on the road, which is not much more than a one lane. She then went on home past the house and turned around at the junction. She reported that she had stalled the bike there, but had been able to get it started and bring it back by herself, so I think she will get it eventually. But it will be a while before I will get on behind her.

We saw the monkeys again today by the house. There is a tree near the house which has some kind of small round fruits on it and they were busily picking and eating them. We were able to watch them only about 30 feet away. It was nice.

Today we visited Natasha and she said she would like to have a personal study. She had been doing real well when we were here the first time, but since then has taken up with a man and has two small children. She said she knew what she had done was wrong, but knew there were others in the bible who had done worse and had been forgiven by Jehovah, so she is sure that he will forgive her if she can get herself right again. It was nice to hear her reasoning. We will have to see how that develops, as Joe and christina said she had asked once before but then never followed through.

All the bugs here seem to be enjoying fresh blood. I have many bites which itch fiercely, but I am getting them during the day, so I'm not worried they are mosquitos, so I'm not worried about malaria. But that doesn't help with the itch.

I'm still not ready to try and post pictures yet, but I soon. I got some pictures of Terri out in the yard trying to chop the grass with a cutlass, plus I got some of the monkeys. I hope you can tell which are which.

We are well and hope all are the same

Monday, January 8, 2007

Just like I remembered

Saturday the congregation had a special service day to to a couple of small settlements beyond Wauna, which is the farthest Terri or I had ever been out. In fact the last time we went there, the bus we had made arrangements to bring us back, had left early and we had had to walk about five miles back to Hosororo to get a bus home. This time the congregation had arranged the travel. So many showed up to go (24) that we took the two dirt bikes as well to lessen the crowd in the bus. I road on the back of the bike Joe was driving. When we had gotten most of the way to Wauna, Joe stopped and said the bike was riding funny. We checked and the back tire was very soft. We had nothing to repair it with, so he said get on and let’s see how far we can get. We had only gone a few hundred yards when it was riding on the rim, so we had to get off and push it the rest of the way into Wauna. It was probably ½ mile, the last 1/8 mile being uphill. Then we had to walk on to where the group had met. It was quite a workout in the heat.
The group went preaching while Joe went back to see about repairing the tire. We had a nice morning preaching, and then met up for the ride back. Joe was worried about the tire, and thought it best to ride back single, so I joined the 20 in the bus (read that mini-van). As we were traveling back, the bus had a rather steep hill it had to climb. About halfway up, I heard a loud snap, and the bus stopped moving. I told everyone, "That’s it the ride is over." Sure enough, the universal had snapped on the driveshaft and the bus could go no more. At that point we had no choice but to all start walking back. It was a couple of miles to the normal end of the bus route, but rather than just sit there waiting for the next bus, we kept walking. By the time the first bus came along, it was so full that some had to keep walking. I probably walked about four miles before a bus came that I could fit into.

Later that night, the others in the house were very apologetic about how the day had gone. I said I didn’t know what the big deal was, it was just the way I remembered it. I said I found it comforting to know that some things never change. We remarked at how all the small children who had gone, some around the age of 7 or 8 had all walked back without whining or complaining. In fact the group out in the front had three of the small boys in it. Of course, the children are used to walking to school in the morning, walking home for lunch, back to school, and then home again at the end of the day.

Sunday I gave the talk and we had 53 in attendance. I had gone over my outline and removed a fair amount, since I remember you can’t talk fast, and you have to explain things more. As it was, I could see there was no way I was going to get through it all, so I figured out how far I could jump ahead, and still have it be somewhat coherent. It’s going take some getting used to again, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.

I have been here four days now and have not gotten any sunburn except for the top of my head, since Terri gave me a very short haircut. I really feel very white here still. I have driven the dirt bikes a couple of times to Kumaka. It's the first time I have driven bike in over ten years, but as they say, "It's just like riding a bike, you don't forget it." Terri is teasing me to take her out and get her checked out on driving them.

I had my first night of washing dishes Sunday night, which is why I didn't do any posting last night. I see I ended up with a double post the time before. Sorry about that. Everyone is waiting for me to show pictures from Belize, so I will post this and close now.

We are fine and hope the same for you

Friday, January 5, 2007

We made it!!!

We are safely in Mabaruma. We arrived at the airport in Georgetown and Gary was there to pick us up. He mentioned that he had been ready to call to make arrangements for a place for us to stay and just as he picked up the phone to make a call, the phone rang and it was the branch calling to make sure he was picking us up the next day and bringing us to the branch. He said that I had recently contacted him to ask him to make arrangements since we hadn't gotten a response from the branch regarding our request. Brother Hazel said that he must have forgotten to notify us, but they were expecting us. We had an unexpected treat of being able to spend the night at the branch sleeping with AC which was great since Terri hadn't slept since she got us Wednesday morning.

This morning we got up and drove to the regional airport for our flight to Mabaruma. I flew to Mabaruma with a planeful of young chicks (literally).

So now we are here and will be staying in Will's small house in the back for the next few days until Will returns. We were sitting back there this afternoon watching a troop of monkeys leap from tree to tree and Terri mentioned that people pay thousands of dollars for a jungle experience like this.

I'm not sure how well this site is going to work, since our internet connection here is very slow. It may limit my ability to post pictures to the site, which I am not even going to try tonight (not that I have taken any pictures yet anyways.

I guess I will end it here and see if I can post it successfully, but I wanted to get something up to let everyone know were are here.